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Afghanistan is a wash, nobody gets to take credit for ending that. Trump entered into the surrender agreement, but delayed the execution of the agreement past t
by mullingitover 3y ago
Afghanistan is a wash, nobody gets to take credit for ending that. Trump entered into the surrender agreement, but delayed the execution of the agreement past the end of his term, so if he doesn't take the blame for the fallout he doesn't get credit for ending it either. Meanwhile Obama surged troops while he was in office, sure, but then tried to steeply draw down and was blocked by republicans[1]. They also blocked his effort to close the human rights embarrassment at Guantanamo[2]. This is basically an 'everyone sucks here' situation, at best.
[1] https://thehill.com/homenews/286787-gop-questions-obamas-afghanistan-troop-withdrawal/ https://thehill.com/homenews/286787-gop-questions-obamas-afg...
[2] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-defense-guantanamo/house-votes-to-block-obama-plan-to-close-guantanamo-idUSBRE95D12F20130614 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-defense-guantanamo/ho...
- mjevans 3y agoTrump, denying they lost the election, refused to support any transfer of power or awareness to the incoming administration as traditionally happens. This combined with the agreement taking effect very shortly after the new term enhanced the scale of the damage, particularly with the new administration's cabinet bootstrapping during the same period.
- nonethewiser 3y agoTrump drafted and signed the agreement and Biden executed it. That’s about as fair as you can put it. As you noted, Obama and Biden increased troop count before Trump signed the Doha agreement to end the war.